


Things That Go Bump In The Night

by perductus



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, F/M, Ghost Stories, Spiders, Spooky Happenings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:24:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2712212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perductus/pseuds/perductus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a storm, a diary written by one of the servants to the Togami family reveals some unsettling things about the old Togami family mansion. No one is going to be getting much sleep tonight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Problem Arises

**Author's Note:**

> This came about as a combination of leftover ideas for a belated Halloween fic, and also a conversation between myself and liviglove.

** 9:50pm **

Flames crackled and spat in the ornate fireplace, emanating warmth across the high ceilinged drawing room of the old Togami family mansion. Rain battered against the windows and the wind howled outside, making the interior feel even warmer and cosier than it was. Makoto Naegi squinted up the gold-leaf incrusted patterns on the roof, and wondered whether getting a big old house patched up just so that they had somewhere to go for the holidays was really a wise use of Future Foundation funds.

Clearly Byakuya thought so, or they wouldn’t be sitting here around the fire now. Makoto had to admit that it was a really nice house. A very big house too. Byakuya took them on a brief guided tour when they arrived; brief because Yasuhiro and Aoi ran off to explore on their own as soon as Byakuya started droning on about the history of the building and its function within his family, which soon bored Makoto and Kyouko into escaping as well. The only person who stuck with Byakuya’s tour right until the end was Touko, and that was hardly surprising.

Later in the evening, everyone pitched in to make dinner and after a questionable variety of food had been consumed, they all withdrew to the drawing room. Which, Makoto supposed, is what a drawing room is for.

Near the fire, Yasuhiro and Aoi lay on their stomachs, engaged in a fierce match of Mario Kart, on a small television and game console plugged into a socket near to the fireplace. Byakuya sat in a typically grand armchair, book in hand, while Kyouko and Makoto occupied the sofa. Touko was absent; Byakuya had asked if anyone wanted tea and upon the answer being yes, sent Touko to go and make it. Her discarded notebook lay strewn at Byakuya’s feet.

‘Hagakure you filthy cheat!’ Aoi screeched, mashing buttons with such force that Makoto worried for the safety of the controller.

‘That wasn’t cheating Asahina-chi, that was _technique_ ,’ Yasuhiro grinned, eyes focused on the screen.

‘Oh yeah?’ Aoi’s virtual go-kart released a missile and blasted Yasuhiro’s go-kart out of the way. ‘Technique your way out of that one!’

‘Do you have to be so vocal?’ Byakuya sneered, looking up from his book. ‘I thought perhaps providing you with menial entertainment might shut you up.’

Kyouko chuckled. ‘If you wanted to shut them up then giving them a copy of Mario Kart was the worst thing you could have done.’

Aoi and Yasuhiro remained oblivious to Byakuya and Kyouko’s conversation as they continued to attack their controllers.

‘Son of a—‘ Aoi drummed her feet against the floor in frustration as her go-kart was once again blasted out of first place. But before she had a chance to reclaim the winning spot, the screen fizzled into darkness, along with every other light in the room. The only remaining light was the orange flickers coming from the fireplace.

‘What happened?’ Aoi asked, sitting up.

‘The storm must have hit the power generator in the grounds,’ said Byakuya, setting down his book.

A scream sounded from somewhere in the house and, seconds later, Touko burst into the room, absolutely terrified and dripping wet.

‘Has the power gone in the kitchen too, Fukawa-san?’ Kyouko asked.

‘Y-Y-Yes…!’ Touko stammered, scurrying back to her spot on the floor next to Byakuya’s armchair. ‘I w-was making the t-tea and then suddenly there w-was a flash of l-lightning and then the entire r-room went d-d-dark…!!’

‘Why are you soaking wet?’ Byakuya looked down at her, eyes narrow.

Touko’s expression switched from one of fear to a perverted smirk and she stifled a giggle. ‘H-How could I n-not b-be with you around, Byakuya-sama…’

Aoi made vomiting noises while Byakuya scowled.

‘Did you go outside?’ Kyouko prompted.

‘No…’ said Touko, ringing out a portion of her skirt. ‘I j-just got scared w-when the lights went out and I split t-tea everywhere.’

‘Sending you to make the tea was obviously a stupid idea,’ Byakuya rolled his eyes.

Touko whined but Yasuhiro spoke up. ‘But wasn’t it your idea to send Fukawa-chi?’

‘None of that matters,’ Kyouko cut across. ‘What matters is that we apparently have no power. Togami-kun,’ she addressed Byakuya. ‘How do we get the power back on?’

‘The generator is in the old caretaker’s quarters in the south west corner of the grounds,’ Byakuya said. ‘What will most likely have happened is that the electric energy from the storm caused a power-surge, which can be fixed easily. If I remember correctly, there’s a set of instructions on the generator.’

Kyouko stood. ‘Well then, show me where it is and we can get it working again.’

‘That’s not going to work.’

Everyone stared at Byakuya.

‘Why not?’ asked Makoto. ‘You just told us that’s how to get the power back on.’

‘That _is_ how to get the power back on,’ Byakuya explained. ‘But not in this weather.’ He stood and strode to the window, pulling back the velvet curtain. Rain hammered against the window, and lightning flashed in the distance. ‘It would be a suicide mission to attempt to get it working in this storm. But,’ he let the curtain fall back into place. ‘if you really want to risk your lives for some lights and a gaming console… be my guest.’

The room was silent, bar the crackling of the fire. Byakuya returned to his chair.

‘Why didn’t you ask the Future Foundation to build a better generator?’ Aoi wrinkled her nose. ‘One that wouldn’t blow up in a storm and maybe one that was a bit closer to the house?’

Byakuya scowled.

‘It is what it is,’ said Kyouko, sitting back down. ‘Togami-kun knows this house and its grounds better than any of us, so I say we trust his judgment.’

‘Does that m-mean we’ll have to go to b-bed without any lights?’ asked Touko, nibbling her little finger and eyebrows knitted.

‘Almost certainly,’ Kyouko said, frowning slightly. ‘But there’s some candles in the kitchen should we need them.’

Though she still looked concerned, Touko nodded, and shuffled back against Byakuya’s armchair, leaning her head on his legs. Byakuya’s only reaction was to cast her a disapproving look as he picked up his book again.

Yasuhiro rolled onto his back, laying flat on the carpet. ‘Man, I’m bored already.’

‘How about we tell each other stories?’ Aoi sat upright, crossing her legs.

‘Oh, yeah!’ Yasuhiro too sat up. ‘That reminds me, I found something kinda cool when me and Asahina-chi were exploring the library!’

‘If it’s another of your alien conspiracy theories then I don’t want to hear it,’ said Byakuya, not looking up from the page he was on.

‘Nah, it’s something spookier than that,’ said Yasuhiro.

Touko winced. ‘S-Spooky?’

‘It was this diary kept by one of the servants who used to work for Togami-chi’s family,’ Yasuhiro explained. ‘It was mostly boring stuff but then I came across this really weird bit. They wrote about how one night – it was a stormy night too – they’d seen this figure dressed all in white, walking the corridors of the house.’

‘You n-never told me your house was… h-h-haunted, Byakuya-sama…!’ Touko’s hands flew to her mouth, her face pale.

Byakuya tutted. ‘That’s because it isn’t. That diary was probably just one of the more idiotic servants way of venting.’

‘But there’s more,’ said Yasuhiro, raising a hand.

Makoto wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hear more.

‘They also wrote about how, especially on stormy nights, they would hear bumps and thuds, and sometimes eerie wailing coming from inside the walls.’

A clap of thunder sounded outside and Touko squeaked, clapping her hands over her ears. Aoi hugged the pillow she’d been laying on to her chest.

‘There was even something about how the servants used to see a mysterious figure roaming the grounds in the rain too!’

‘S-Stop!’ Touko wailed, hugging her knees to her chest.

‘None of that drivel is true,’ Byakuya sneered. ‘Whenever I stayed at this particular house, absolutely none of that happened, and even if it had, there’s a perfectly logical explanation.’

Another flash of lightning lit up the room. Makoto felt his heart rate quicken.

Kyouko stood. ‘I think we should probably all think about retiring for the night. It’s getting late and we may as well just sleep off the time until we can venture out to restore the power.’

‘I agree,’ Byakuya set down his book and vacated the chair. ‘There are candles and a couple of torches in the kitchen if anyone feels the need for a light source.’ With that, he exited the room.

Touko jumped up and scurried after him.

‘C-Can I sleep in your room tonight, Byakuya-sama?’

‘No.’

Touko and Byakuya’s voices faded away, and Makoto dragged himself off the comfortable sofa.

‘I’m gonna go to bed too,’ he said. ‘’Night everyone.’

‘’Night, Naegi-chi!’ Yasuhiro grinned, waving as if he hadn’t just freaked everyone out with the possibility that the house they stayed in might be haunted.

 

* * *

 

 

Once inside his room, Makoto locked the door. Partly due to leftover habit from his days at Hopes Peak, but also because the image of the figure in white still lurked at the back of his mind.

Clambering into bed, Makoto tried to avert his thoughts away from those of a ghostly nature and focus on sleeping. This was easier said than done, but after at least forty minutes of tossing and turning, Makoto finally drifted off into a somewhat restless sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Kyouko Kirigiri stood at the window of her bedroom, looking out across the grounds and wondering if the small hut she spied could be the one containing the power generator. Byakuya made it sound like the caretaker’s hut was miles and miles away, but in reality; it was probably only a five-minute walk from the house.

Since retreating upstairs, Kyouko lay awake for at least two or three hours, wondering whether there was any truth in the accounts retold by Yasuhiro. Perhaps Byakuya was right in saying that it was just the ramblings of an overworked servant, but experience told Kyouko that it would be foolish to merely dismiss it.

Which is why she grabbed her coat from the back of her door, slipped on her boots and exited her room, with the intention of restoring power to the house. If she couldn’t sleep, she could at least spend these hours doing something useful.

Kyouko made her way through the hallway and down the stairs into the entrance hall, where shadows from the stained glass window above the door danced on the marble floor. She yanked open the front door and was immediately greeted by a cold gust of wind.

As she trudged out into the night, only one thought crossed her mind; _this is going to be a long night._


	2. Touko Fukawa Sees A Ghost

** 1:30 am **

Ominous shadows danced across the walls of the darkened bedroom, as Yasuhiro’s story haunted the thoughts of Touko Fukawa. In her heart, she hoped that he had just been making up that diary entry. But it wasn’t just the story - the old mansion itself evoked a threatening air. The house was left abandoned for months, maybe years, but she thought that a building bearing relation to her darling Byakuya-sama would be more comforting to her. Alas, no.

It was truly the opposite of comforting as the sound of creaking trees and the thundering of the rain pounded against the old leaded lights. Touko wrapped the sheets tighter around her body, eyes fixed on the door, fearfully anticipating the entrance of the disturbed spirit that was apparently rumoured to haunt the hallways.

It was ridiculous. She knew it was all rubbish! …Wasn’t it?

A loud thud sounded from somewhere in the house. Touko’s heart skipped a beat and she froze. It was probably just one of the others going to the bathroom or getting a late night glass of water.

Sitting up in bed, Touko reached for her glasses. Byakuya probably wasn’t being kept up by some stupid ghost story. This was his house after all, so he, of all people, would know that it holds no ghostly secrets. Byakuya probably didn’t even believe in ghosts. Byakuya would tell her how stupid she was being and that there was absolutely no such things as ghosts.

So that’s why, despite the mysterious noises and frightening shadows, Touko slid out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown and cautiously exited her room, scuttled down the hallway and stopped outside the room she knew to be occupied by Byakuya.

Without hesitating, she rapped her whitened knuckles against the door, trying to ignore the seemingly endless nothingness of the hallway around her.

No one answered. Touko’s breathing, already shallow, quickened and she shuffled closer to the door. Her eyes darted to the side, glancing down the hall. The large window at the far end cast flickering moonlight across the carpeted floor, accentuating the shadows of the unsettling statues that lined the walls. When she and Byakuya eventually live here together, she would campaign to have the eerie statues removed. Those would do absolutely no favours for their children.

Touko knocked again, adding another tap onto the end of the usual three. A nagging voice reminded her that Byakuya would most likely be angry that she was waking him at these early hours of the morning, but the racing of her heart and the prospect of encountering a ghostly entity spurred her on. At least if Byakuya was with her, she would be just the slightest bit less scared.  

Another thud sounded, but it was closer this time. Touko whipped around, pressing her back against the door, palms flat against the wood. Instinctually, she reached for one of the light-switches beside the door, before remembering that all the electricity was out.

Touko’s eyes scanned the hallway. The only movement was the gentle wafting of the light affected by the rain outside.

Until a pale white figure slowly emerged from around the corner.

Touko screamed.

The door behind her suddenly opened and Touko fell backwards into Byakuya, causing her to yelp again.

‘What are you doing making such a racket at one in the morning?!’ Byakuya’s voice was low but the irritation still prevalent.

Touko scrabbled up off the floor and ducked past Byakuya, cowering behind him. ‘T-T-T-There’s a g-g-g-g-ghost...!!” She lifted an arm and pointed a shaky finger out into the hallway. ‘J-Just like that s-servant said…!’

Though she couldn’t see his face, she could almost hear the raised eyebrow and skeptical look. He peered out into the hallway, before turning. 

‘There is nothing in the hallway,’ said Byakuya. ‘Get out of my—‘

Touko ventured back towards the entrance, squinting into the darkness. The hallway was empty. ‘I’m t-telling you, there was a g-g-ghost!’

‘That’s ridiculous, there was obviously no ghost,’ Byakuya made to shut the door. ‘Go back to bed.’

He tried to shoo Touko out of his room but she dodged past him.

 ‘Don’t l-leave me out there…!’ She pleaded. She would have absolutely no sleep if she was to return to her own room, and now that she had seen the apparition for herself, her fear was entirely justified.

Byakuya scowled. ‘What do you want me to do, let you sleep here?’

Touko nodded.

‘So I can be deprived of sleep as well and have to put up with your irritating noises?’

A slightly more hesitant nod. ‘B-But if we’re t-together then the ghost won’t b-be as s-s-scary…?’

‘The amount of people in any one place doesn’t decrease how scary an individual finds the prospect of a supernatural entity,’ said Byakuya, bluntly. ‘Besides, I don’t believe that you’ve seen anything that can’t be logically explained.’

Touko opened her mouth to respond but a loud thud cut her off. Both froze.

‘…w-what was that?’ Touko’s voice was barely audible.

‘Just one of the others mucking around,’ Byakuya said, his tone tense.

A loud cry echoed through the hallway and both Byakuya and Touko jumped. The room was plunged into total darkness as Byakuya let the door click shut.

 ‘S-See?! I t-told you there w-was a g-g-ghost!’

‘…It’s not a ghost.’

‘Then w-why did you shut the door?’

‘Do you want to sleep here or not?’

Touko shuffled her feet, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark. ‘…yes.’

She heard Byakuya move away from the door, but couldn’t gauge how far he was from her.

‘There’s a sofa in the far corner,’ his voice cut through the darkness. ‘Sleep there and don’t make any sounds.’ His voice muffled towards the end of the sentence, as if he’d turned away from her and she heard the rustling of bed-sheets.

Touko nodded, then realised how redundant the movement was. She turned and began to feel her way through the pitch black. After a moment, her knees bumped into something firm but soft. Assuming that this was the sofa, she lay down on it, tucking her legs into her dressing gown for warmth.

For a moment, the room was absolutely silent, bar the sounds of breathing, and even then, Touko didn’t dare breathe too loudly in case Byakuya decided this was cause enough to send her back to her own room.

Carefully, and as quietly as she could, Touko turned onto her other side, shifting in an attempt to get comfortable. As she settled again, she listened to their breathing. It occurred to her that Byakuya’s breathing was much louder than usual. He didn’t usually breathe so loudly. Maybe he had a cold. Usually, she couldn’t even hear him breathing when they sat in the same room together.

Usually she couldn’t feel him breathing on her face either.

‘Byakuya-sama?!’ Touko’s hand shot out in front of her and felt a nose. A mouth. A chin. All thankfully connected together to make a face. ‘Is that you?!’

‘Fukawa, what part of “You can sleep on the sofa” did you not understand?’ Byakuya’s irritated tone washed over her face.

‘I thought this _was_ the sofa…’

Touko felt Byakuya’s hand grip her own and remove it from his face. ‘Get off my bed and find the sofa or—‘

Three knocks sounded. Touko and Byakuya both lay still, Byakuya still clutching Touko’s hand.

‘D-Do you want to answer it…?’ Touko whispered.

‘And have to explain why you’re in my bed?’

Yes, that’s right. She was in bed with Byakuya. She glowed red, but darkness of the room hid her blush.

Another three knocks, but this time, they came from a different part of the room.

‘T-Those ones… d-didn’t sound like the door…’ Touko whispered again.

‘I don’t think the first three were the door either,’ Byakuya answered, tone low.

Touko shuffled closer to Byakuya, mostly out of fear, but also like hell she wasn’t going to make the most of this situation.

A singular thud sounded, and this time it came from the wall right behind the bed. Touko squeaked and buried her face in Byakuya’s chest. She felt his grip on her hand tighten.

‘Who’s there?’ asked Byakuya, raising his voice.

No reply.

‘Stop this ridiculous game at once or—‘

Something scraped along what sounded like the inside of the wall. A low moan followed.

Touko clung to Byakuya, heart racing. She might not be as scared if it wasn’t so dark.

Byakuya suddenly shifted into a sitting position, Touko hanging off him. ‘Get off me,’ he hissed, making an effort to exit the bed.

‘W-Where are you going?’ Touko clung to his hand, afraid that if she let go whatever was making those dreadful noises would claim her. Or him for that matter.

Unfortunately, Byakuya had other ideas. He shook her hand off, clambering out of bed. ‘I’m going to get a torch from the kitchen. All this fumbling around without any light is getting us nowhere.’

Touko wanted to point out that the lack of light had meant she ended up in bed with him, which she would consider getting somewhere, but a more pressing matter came to mind; ‘You’re going to l-l-leave me here?!’

‘That was the plan, yes.’

‘But it’s d-dark!’ A shiver crawled down her spine and she hugged her arms around her. ‘I’m s-scared of the d-d-dark…’

‘It will continue to be dark if I don’t go and fetch a light source, so wait here,’ his voice moved away across the room. Byakuya opened the door, allowing a slit of dim light to fall across the room. The light vanished as he disappeared, letting the door fall shut behind him.

Touko sat frozen on the bed, sheets gripped in her fists. She didn’t dare move. But it would be okay. Byakuya-sama would be back with a light soon. Then she’d be able to snuggle up with him for the rest of the night, knowing that no ghosts could harm them.

He’d be back soon, she repeated in her head. The kitchen wasn’t far and this _was_ Byakuya’s house so he wouldn’t get lost. He’d be five minutes. Maybe less. She could wait that long.

_Thud._

Forget it.

Touko squeaked and leapt off the bed, nearly tripping her in frenzy to get to the door. Another thud sounded in the wall as she wrestled with the doorknob, finally wrenching the door open and fleeing into the corridor.

_‘Wait for me, Byakuya-sama!’_

She sprinted down the corridor and rounded the corner where she collided with Byakuya, nearly knocking them both to the floor.

‘I thought I said stay in my room until I return?’ He frowned, folding his arms.

Touko wrung her hands together. ‘I w-was going to b-but… but I heard sounds in the walls again… I got scared…!’

‘Tsk,’ Byakuya turned away and continued walking towards the staircase. ‘If you’re going to insist on following me, keep up and be quiet. I don’t want you waking the others with your irksome shrieks.’

Keeping her hands close to her chest, Touko scurried after him, every so often checking over her shoulder.

They reached the top of the grand staircase leading down into the mansion’s entrance hall. Moonlight shone through the stained glass window above the front entrance, casting ominous shadows across the vast room.

Byakuya began to descend the stairs, Touko close behind him. A flash of lightning lit up the walls and a clap of thunder shook the windowpanes. She gasped, but he didn’t flinch.

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Byakuya made to turn towards the door to the kitchen but Touko froze, grabbing the back of his shirt.

‘What are you—?’

‘Shh,’ She hushed, staring at one of the pillars that lined the entrance hall. In particular, the one nearest to where she and Byakuya stood. ‘I h-heard something coming from that p-pillar.’

‘For the last time, Fukawa—‘

A wail emanated from the pillar. Byakuya froze.

The wailing grew closer and closer until one of the panels on the pillar slid open and two screaming bodies shot out of the wall and straight into Touko and Byakuya, who were both sent tumbling to the ground in a heap.

‘Ow…’ A voice groaned from the bottom of the body pile. ‘That was… so much… fun! Let’s do it again, Naegi-chi!’

The other body, Makoto, moaned. ‘I can’t feel my legs…’

‘That’s because m-me and Byakuya-sama fell on top of them,’ Touko said, trying to tug one of her braids out from underneath someone’s torso. ‘Get off m-my hair!!’

‘Fukawa-san? Togami-kun?’ Makoto lifted his head. ‘What are you two doing down here?’

Byakuya extracted himself from the heap, brushing dust off his pajama trousers. ‘I might ask you the same question. Fukawa heard some unexplained noises so I agreed to accompany her to the kitchen to retrieve a torch.’

‘How very gentlemanly of you, Togami-chi!’ Yasuhiro too picked himself up off the ground, helping Makoto up in the process.

‘Hmph,’ Byakuya replied, letting Touko pick herself off the floor.

‘What kind of noises were they, Fukawa-chi?’ asked Yasuhiro.

‘Thumps and s-scrapes from … insides the walls,’ she replied, massaging her marble floor bruised elbow. ‘And groaning t-too. Eerie moaning…’

Yasuhiro nodded sagely, stroking his unshaven chin. On the other hand, Makoto looked from Touko to Yasuhiro with the look of someone who had just worked something out.

‘Wait, hang on,’ Makoto said, raising a hand. ‘I think what you heard was just—‘

Byakuya interrupted him. ‘Everyone be quiet.’

‘Why—‘

Byakuya’s eyes were fixed on a point at the top of the staircase. Touko didn’t think she’d ever seen him actually look scared before. ‘Look.’

Touko, Makoto and Yasuhiro looked.

And screamed. 


	3. Yasuhiro Hagakure has an Adventure

** 1:10am **

On reflection, Yasuhiro Hagakure realised telling everyone about that diary before going to bed on a stormy night - when there was no power throughout the old, borderline abandoned mansion - probably hadn’t been a great idea.

That stupid diary hadn’t even given any tips on ways to protect oneself from the ghost that haunts this mansion. Terrible book, zero out of ten. He had a good mind to write a strongly worded letter to the author of the diary informing them of their error.

After lying awake for longer than he cared to remember, Yasuhiro threw back the covers and got out of bed. He paced around the room. Perhaps he might find inspiration for saving himself and the others from the ghost. He kicked himself for not bringing his collection of protective charms with him to Byakuya’s house. He could have done everyone a sweet ten percent discount on them.

Passing the bedside table, he swiped up his trusted crystal ball. Perhaps it might serve as a substitute for any charms or amulets that might provide protection. Unfortunately, the crystal ball seemed unwilling to divulge its secrets tonight. That ball really knew how to play hard to get sometimes.

Yasuhiro sighed, and paced back across the room to the fireplace that was installed opposite to his bed. He placed the crystal ball down on the mantelpiece and leant against the small pillar that was situated at the side of the fireplace, but yelped in surprise when the pillar gave way beneath him.

He leapt away from the fireplace. Had he broken it? Boy, it was a good thing he’d given Makoto a good bit of advice this morning because he was gonna need that six thousand yen to pay back Byakuya for the broken fireplace.

However, it seemed the fireplace was not broken as instead of the marble crumbling and collapsing, a panel at the back of the hearth slid open, revealing a passageway behind it.

His jaw fell open. A secret passage! Did Byakuya know about this? If he did, then why didn’t he tell them all? If he didn’t… then Yasuhiro would charge him one million yen for that golden nugget of information.

Yasuhiro grabbed the small torch he’d heisted from the kitchen off the bedside table and shone it into the passage. He ventured forwards, ducking down under the mantelpiece in order to enter the small corridor, but as soon as he was over the threshold, there was a scraping sound and he was suddenly plunged into darkness. Surprised, he turned around to find that the panel had slid shut, sealing him in the fireplace. He waved the torch around, trying to see if he could locate any kind of lever or button to reopen the entrance, but found no such thing. He was trapped in the fireplace. Unless…

Yasuhiro turned around, and directed his light forward. At the end of the relatively short passageway, there was a ladder.

Left with no other options, he walked towards the ladder and proceeded to climb. The ladder was old and rusted – who knows how many years it had been there, or how many years it had been since anyone had last used these secret tunnels. What were they even used for anyway? Yasuhiro wondered.

At the top of the ladder, the ceiling grew even lower, forcing him to stoop to a crawl. He placed the torch between his teeth, so that his hands were free to transport the rest of his body. Looking around, it appeared he were in some form of very tiny attic. Perhaps it was an attic made for ants. Did Byakuya’s family keep ants as pets? Yasuhiro would have to ask him over breakfast tomorrow. Maybe the Togamis were ant farmers.

A few minutes into his crawling marathon, Yasuhiro’s left knee went straight through a floorboard. This didn’t bother him until he lifted his knee and saw that it was covered in lots of little moving black specks. Ants?

Spiders. Baby ones to be precise.

Yasuhiro wasn’t one for cruelty to little spiders. No, he liked the little guys. He’d read Charlotte’s Web. But what wasn’t so great, was the sensation of them crawling up his pajama-clad leg.

In the small space, all he could do was aggressively shake his limb, which sent most of the spiders flying in all different directions. When he was satisfied that no spiders remained on his leg, Yasuhiro peered into the hole he had made with his knee. The light of the torch revealed a swarming mess of baby spiders. He felt a little bad – clearly he’d just nearly squashed their home. He hoped they’d be ok.

‘Sorry, little guys,’ he whispered. ‘I’m just passing though. As you were!’

He saluted the family of spiders and continued crawling through the attic.

The torch’s beam revealed a ladder poking up from another hole in the floorboards just ahead of where Yasuhiro crawled. Maybe it would lead to an exit?

Yasuhiro clambered down the ladder, nearly losing his footing in the darkness. Once he reached the floor, he turned and saw a similar panel to the one in his own room, but this time there was a large ring attached to a chain hanging from the ceiling by the panel. Somewhat cautiously, he pulled it.

The panel slid open, dislodging a fair amount of dust and debris onto the floor. Yasuhiro stepped out of the fireplace into another of the mansion’s many bedrooms, and shook the dust out of his hair, coughing as he did.

_‘Agh!’_

Oh. It seems that this particular bedroom was occupied. A figure sat up in the bed opposite.

‘Naegi-chi?’ Yasuhiro asked, shining the torch onto the face of Makoto Naegi, who sat terrified on the bed.

‘Hagakure-kun?’ Makoto relaxed a little but still stared in apprehension at Yasuhiro. ‘What are you doing in my fireplace? How did you get there?!’

Yasuhiro laughed and moved to sit on the end of Makoto’s bed. ‘It’s a funny story actually, Naegi-chi!’

‘If it’s anything like your story from earlier then thanks, but I don’t want to hear it,’ Makoto cut across him, frowning. ‘I’ve been having some freaky dreams because of that.’

‘Me too!’ Yasuhiro grinned. ‘Except I wasn’t having dreams ‘cause I couldn’t sleep ‘cause I was scared of the ghost from the story.’ He had to tell Makoto of the secret passageways, so that he would be at an advantage if the ghost were to utilize them later in the night. ‘So I was walking around my room when I suddenly found this hidden doorway in the fireplace. I thought I should probably see where it went, but the panel slid shut behind me so I was trapped!’

‘Okay…’ Makoto nodded slowly.

Yasuhiro continued. ‘I carried on into the passage, thinking that maybe I could find another exit – which I did—’

‘And that exit happens to be in my room?’ said Makoto, raising his eyebrows.

‘Yup!’

Makoto eyed the open fireplace. ‘Where else does the passage lead?’

‘I don’t know,’ replied Yasuhiro. ‘How about you and me find out?’

He hopped off the bed and returned to the fireplace, gesturing that Makoto should follow him.

‘Isn’t it a bit late to be exploring some dusty old passageways?’ Despite his skeptical tone, Makoto got out of bed and walked to join Yasuhiro at the entrance to the fireplace. ‘Can’t we do this in the morning?’

‘You never know whether things like this will still be here in the morning,’ Yasuhiro pointed out. ‘This could be one of those witching hour things, you know – like something that isn’t there at any other time than at night.’ He ducked under Makoto’s mantelpiece and into the passageway. ‘Come on, Naegi-chi – adventure awaits!’

With still a wary expression present on his face, Makoto followed Yasuhiro into the fireplace. And just like before, the panel slid shut behind the two. Makoto jumped.

‘We’re trapped!’

‘No we’re not,’ reassured Yasuhiro, pushing past Makoto in the cramped space. He shone the torch on the pulley hanging from the ceiling. ‘See?’

To demonstrate, he pulled on the chain, which promptly came away in his hand.

‘Oh.’

Makoto let out an exasperated sigh. ‘You’d think I would have learnt by now not to go along with something like this.’

‘Don’t worry, Naegi-chi,’ Yasuhiro said, squeezing back past him and shining the torch up the ladder. ‘We just have to find another fireplace and it’ll be fine!’

He began to climb the ladder, and Makoto followed with an air of resignation.

 

* * *

 

‘I told you we’d find another fireplace!’

A fair few minutes of crawling around finally resulted in Yasuhiro and Makoto locating a ladder similar to the ones leading to their own rooms. They both descended the ladder and stood in the small space behind the panel.

‘What if this room has one of our friends in it?’ asked Makoto. ‘I don’t want to think about what Fukawa-san might do if we burst out of her fireplace at this time of night…’

‘I think we’ll be fine as long as it isn’t Asahina-chi. I’ve still got the bruises from the last time I walked in on her!’

‘… I’m not going to ask.’

Yasuhiro directed the torch towards the exit panel, searching for a pulley or a lever or something that might open it. He saw nothing.

‘Have you found it?’

Yasuhiro furrowed his brow. ‘There isn’t a pulley here, but it’s okay because this one probably has a lever or something.’

‘…Probably?’

Squatting on the floor, balanced on the balls of his feet, Yasuhiro brushed his palm across the doorway. Maybe it was one of those doors where you have to tap it a certain number of times for it to open?

He rapped his knuckles against the bottom left corner of the door three times. Nothing happened.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Naegi-chi, try tapping against the wall,’ Yasuhiro instructed.

‘Why?’

‘Maybe the entrance isn’t where we think it is!’

‘Okay…’ Makoto knocked three times on the wall next to him. Nothing happened. ‘I think that’s just a wall, Hagakure-kun.’

‘It was worth a shot—‘ He started, but lost his balance and keeled over backwards into Makoto’s legs. Makoto stumbled backwards into the ladder, which scraped against the concrete ground.

‘Ouch…’ Makoto groaned, leaning down to massage his ankle.

Yasuhiro got to his feet. ‘You know what, Naegi-chi?’

‘What?’

‘I don’t think this entrance is usable. Let’s try and find a different one.’ He turned around and clambered over Makoto and up the ladder. Perhaps this room had just been one of the old broom cupboards or something.

‘Hey, wait for me, Hagakure-kun,’ Makoto called out. ‘I think I’ve done something to my ankle.’

Yasuhiro reached the top of the ladder and shone the torch down to guide Makoto. On about the third rung, he slipped and tumbled back to the bottom of the ladder with a bump.

Makoto eventually made it to the top of the ladder, with aid from Yasuhiro’s hand, though when he reached the top he collapsed onto the floorboards with a thud.

‘Let’s carry on this way, there’s bound to be another exit somewhere!’ Yasuhiro grinned, shining the torch’s beam ahead, and crawling ahead with conviction.

Makoto followed, with slightly less conviction.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Naegi-chi! I’ve found something?’

Makoto hobbled after Yasuhiro. ‘Is it another ladder? Because I really don’t think I’m going to be able to climb another one.’

‘No, no – better!’

As Makoto joined him, Yasuhiro gestured victoriously to his discovery, which was the beginning of what seemed to be a spiral slide, like the kind you’d find in a kids play area.

‘Is that… a slide?’ asked Makoto, incredulous.

‘Sure looks like it!’ Yasuhiro beamed. ‘And it probably leads to an exit. Let’s go!’

Makoto raised a hand. ‘Wait. What if it ends in a wall?’

‘I’ll go first then,’ Yasuhiro handed the torch to Makoto. ‘Hold Bertha.’

‘Bertha?’

‘She’s been a good friend to us on our adventures, so I thought she deserved a name.’

Makoto pointed… Bertha… down the slide. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Positive!’ Yasuhiro positioned himself at the top of the slide.

‘We don’t even know where this leads…’

‘Well, we’re about to find out!’ Pushing himself away from the top with his hands, Yasuhiro began to slip down the slide. Unfortunately, he’d been sitting on the overly long hems of Makoto’s trousers.

‘Ahhhhhhhh!’ Makoto slipped and fell, tumbling after Yasuhiro down the spiraling slide, Bertha bringing up the rear.

Down and down and down and around and around and around until Yasuhiro and Makoto found themselves skidding across a slippery surface, only stopping when they crashed into two figures, who in turn fell down on top of them both.

‘Ow…’ Yasuhiro groaned. He felt like he was lying under a ton of bricks. ‘That was… so much… fun! Let’s do it again, Naegi-chi!’

From somewhere in the pile of bodies, Makoto moaned. ‘I can’t feel my legs…’

‘That’s because m-me and Byakuya-sama fell on top of them,’ A reproachful voice spoke from the top of the pile. ‘Get off m-my hair!!’

‘Fukawa-san? Togami-kun?’ Makoto lifted his head. ‘What are you two doing down here?’

Byakuya extracted himself from the heap. Yasuhiro winced as he trod on one of his dreadlocks. ‘I might ask you the same question. Fukawa heard some unexplained noises so I agreed to accompany her to the kitchen to retrieve a torch.’

‘How very gentlemanly of you, Togami-chi!’ Yasuhiro picked himself up off the ground, helping Makoto up in the process. He checked that all his limbs were still in tact.

‘Hmph.’ Byakuya let Touko pick herself off the floor.

‘What kind of noises were they, Fukawa-chi?’ asked Yasuhiro, turning to Touko.

‘Thumps and s-scrapes from … insides the walls,’ she replied, massaging her elbow and frowning. ‘And groaning t-too. Eerie moaning…’

Yasuhiro nodded sagely, stroking his unshaven chin. It sounds like Touko and Byakuya had encountered the ghost that he and Makoto had been traipsing around in the walls trying to avoid. He opened his mouth to question Touko further.

‘Wait, hang on,’ Makoto said, raising a hand. ‘I think what you heard was just—‘

Byakuya interrupted him. ‘Everyone be quiet.’

‘Why—‘

Byakuya’s eyes were fixed on a point at the top of the staircase. ‘Look.’

Yasuhiro, Makoto and Touko looked.

And screamed.


	4. Aoi Asahina VS A Spider

** 1:20am **

Aoi Asahina tossed and turned, but no amount of turning or tossing was going to help her get to sleep. Thanks to Yasuhiro’s story, her mind was racing and conjuring up all sorts of nonsensical thoughts that prevented sleep from overcoming her. Why had they all sat around and let him tell them about some stupid diary entry anyway?

She was aware of a tickling sensation on the back of her neck, and raised a hand to scratch the patch of skin. As soon as her hand reached the spot, she realised it was not just hair.

A horrified screech left her mouth as she knocked a big black spider off her neck and onto the bed sheets. She scrambled out of bed, shaking her hair to try and dislodge the lingering feeling of the horrible creature.

‘Stupid bugs…’ Her muttered words echoed loudly in the eerie silence of the early hours. Aoi took hold of the bed sheets and shook until she was satisfied that the spider was not lurking amongst them.

Gingerly getting back into bed, Aoi tried to forget about the intrusive insect and to focus on sleeping instead.

Which would have gone well, if it hadn’t been for a second, smaller spider landing on her cheek.

Nearly falling out of bed in shock, Aoi leapt to her feet and backed slowly away from the bed.

‘What’s the big idea here, Mr Spider?’ She accused the black blob stationary on the pillow. ‘Don’t you and your friend have better things to be doing that crawling all over my face??’

The spider remained still.

‘Ugh, forget it,’ Aoi brushed the spider onto the floor. ‘Stay there. You can sleep on the floor but not on the bed, got it?’

Presumably, the spider got it.

Aoi hopped back into bed and wrapped the bed sheet firmly around her, allowing no entry points for potential spidery visitors. She became something of a bed-sheet burrito. As well as preventing spiders, it was also pretty damn comfortable. What a genius plan!

For maybe five minutes, Aoi lay undisturbed. Until another bout of tickling began to parade across her forehead.

_‘Agh!!’_

Due to her tightly wrapped limbs, all she could do was perform some sort of horizontal worm dance, in order to shake off the spider on her forehead. In her attempts, she managed to roll herself off the mattress and onto the floor with a loud thump.

Extracting herself from the sheet, she rounded on the bed. ‘I thought I said stay off the—‘

Instead of just one spider, there were three small black spots crawling their way over her pillow. The moonlight leaking through a crack in the curtain allowed her to also notice a trail of the same black spots leading all the way up the wall.

Her horrified eyes followed the trail of small spiders, up the wall and to the ceiling. Or more specifically, a small crack in the ceiling, which was a black swarming mess of baby spiders.

Aoi screamed, and without further hesitation, gathered the sheet around her and dashed out of her room and into the corridor, slamming the door shut behind her. No way was she gonna sleep underneath a spider breeding ground!

Pausing to catch her breath, she reviewed the situation. Her bed was currently a playground for baby spiders and she had nowhere else to sleep. And the power was out. And it was the middle of the night. And she’d made the stupid mistake not to bring any candles or matches from the kitchen!

Pulling the bed sheet closer around her and tugging a portion of it over her head to prevent any more bugs falling into her hair, Aoi moved away from her room and down the hallway. She may as well go and retrieve some form of light – by the time she got the back the spiders might have moved on.

She walked down the corridor, slightly cautious of the shadows darting across the walls. It occurred to her that, in the dark, she couldn’t actually remember which way it was to the staircase. Stupid Byakuya and his stupid mansion. Who even needs a house this big?

Aoi reached the end of the hallway and paused. She couldn’t remember whether the staircase was straight on or to the right. It couldn’t be to the left because there was a massive window there.

Glancing to the right, Aoi froze. In the darkness, she could just make out a shadowy figure, lurking at the other end of the corridor.

Before Aoi could open her mouth, the figure let out a blood-curdling scream.

Aoi ran, fear pumping through her veins. She _definitely_ wasn’t going to go that way.

The corridor she found herself in was even darker than the previous one. Surely the stairs were around here somewhere? She probably should have paid better attention to the route she took from downstairs to her room. Heart beating fast, she continued on, turning left and right, until she hit a dead-end. Okay. So the stairs weren’t that way.

That meant she’d have to go down the corridor with the screaming ghost. Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.

Very slowly, Aoi retraced her path back to where she’d seen the ghost. She peeped around the corner, squinting to try and make out the structure of the corridor better. As far as she could tell, there was no humanoid silhouette standing before her, only the silhouettes of the creepy statues lining the walls.

Legs shaking, she stepped out into the hallway, but in the process, trod on the hem of the bed-sheet and stumbled. Aoi cried out in surprise, then nearly tripped again when she heard a door slam. Something was definitely not right in this house.

The idea of going down that hallway still didn’t appeal to her, so instead she darted across the hall back to her own room. Maybe the staircase was actually the opposite way? There was only one way to find out. Aoi continued on down the corridor, but when the walls began to get darker and darker, and she was no longer able to see her hand in front of her, she had to accept defeat. The stairs were definitely not this way.

Part of her hoped that this whole experience was just a horrible dream, induced by too much after-dinner cheese.

She turned on her heel and retreated back to the hallway of the screaming figure. A quick peep around the corner told her that the coast was clear. Gathering up the sheet, she began to creep into the darkness that would hopefully end in the stairs. At this point, she was wondering whether a candle was even worth all this stress.

Aoi reached the end of the corridor, and followed it round the corner. Her heart leapt as she saw an opening and moonlight streaming across the floor. The stairs!

She began to stride towards the top of the grand staircase. Once down the stairs, the kitchen was only across the entrance hall and then she would have a light source and the journey back wouldn’t be nearly as spooky. As long as she didn’t encounter … whatever that thing had been. Aoi pushed that memory to the back of her mind. She hoped she’d just been hallucinating.

As she reached the top of the staircase, a booming clap of thunder sounded and lightning flashed through the stained glass window above the wide front door. Aoi cried out in surprise, and to shield her eyes from the sudden light, pulled the bed-sheet over her face.

But she wasn’t the only one who screamed. At least three more voices cried out at the bottom of the stairs. Frozen in fear, Aoi peered out from under the bed-sheet and saw four figures, all silhouetted against the moonlight streaming in from the windows.

‘It’s the g-g-g-g-g-ghost!!’ One of them screeched, collapsing against one of the other figures, which caught them before they hit the ground.

‘That’s it alright! That’s the ghost!’ Another yelled, pointing up at Aoi.

Aoi lowered the sheet, her brow furrowing and fear ebbing away. Those four figures weren’t ghosts…

‘Hey!’ She called down.

‘Ahhh!’ The second voice cried out, dropping to their knees. ‘We’ll give you whatever it is you want! Please don’t curse us!’

‘Hagakure, you dumbass!’ Aoi threw off the bed-sheet and began to storm down the marble staircase. ‘It’s me!!’

‘…Asahina-chi?’ Yasuhiro looked up, before cowering away again. ‘Oh no! The ghost got Asahina-chi and now she’s one of the living dead too!’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ one of the other figures, which Aoi now recognized to be Byakuya, spoke. ‘Of course she’s not a ghost, she’s clearly alive.’

‘It’s just Asahina…?’ Half slumped on the floor and only loosely being supported by Byakuya, Touko raised her head and jabbed a finger at Aoi. ‘Y-You mean to s-say that Asahina’s b-been parading around in a s-stupid bed-sheet pretending to b-be a ghost?!’

‘Hey!’ Aoi stomped away from the foot of the steps and into the midst of the others. ‘I wasn’t doing any pretending! It’s all of you that have jumped to conclusions thanks to Hagakure’s stupid story!’

‘I didn’t jump to any conclusions,’ Byakuya corrected.

‘Really?’ The fourth figure, Makoto, piped up. ‘Cos you looked pretty scared when you saw Asahina-san at the top of the stairs just now.’

Byakuya opened his mouth to argue, but another thunderous clap and flash of lightning shook the entrance hall. Hagakure cowered on the floor and Touko clung to Byakuya’s leg in terror.

‘It’s just a storm,’ Makoto said in an attempt to calm the group. ‘It’s nothing scary—‘

The front door flew open in synchronization with yet another fork of lightning, which illuminated a solitary figure in the doorway.

All five gathered in the entrance hall screamed.

The figure, drenched and bedraggled, began to stagger into the hall. Instinctively, everyone took a step back. Aoi tripped over the discarded bed-sheet and landed on top of Hagakure, while Touko practically climbed Byakuya in an attempt to escape.

Coming to a stand still near one of the pillars in the entrance hall, the figure paused and tilted its head to the side. It reached out a dripping wet hand and flicked the light-switch.

The bulbs in the entrance hall burst into life, exposing the five’s ridiculous positions. Aoi lay sprawled across Yasuhiro, Yasuhiro clung to Makoto’s leg, Makoto covered his face with his hands, Touko clung like a koala to Byakuya and Byakuya clung back, calm façade shattered.

‘I just trekked out all the way to the gate-keeper’s hut in the wind and rain to restore the power and the only thanks I get is a chorus of terrified screams?’ Kyouko chuckled, placing her hands on her hips.

‘Kirigiri-san?!’ Aoi and Makoto cried out in unison.

‘Yes,’ Kyouko nodded, peeling off her sodden jacket. ‘Not a ghost or other supernatural entity.’

‘That sounds like something a ghost would say!’ Yasuhiro peeked out from between his hands.

‘Chill, Hagakure,’ Aoi said, patting his back for she still sat across his spine. ‘I don’t think a ghost would turn the lights on for us!’

‘Since the power’s back on, how about we all have some tea before we attempt to sleep again?’ Kyouko asked, walking across to the group standing at the foot of the stairs.

‘That sounds like a great idea, Kirigiri-san!’ said Makoto, grinning at Kyouko.

Aoi leapt to her feet. ‘I’m definitely up for that! Then I can tell you guys about the awful night I’ve had.’

Byakuya snorted, trying to prize Touko from him. She fell to the floor in an unceremonious heap accompanied by a yelp of digitation.

Twisting herself around to face the others, she piped up reproachfully; ‘ _Y-You’ve_ had an awful night…?! You and your s-stupid bed-sheet terrified the life out of me… twice!!’

‘Hey, that wasn’t my fault! And anyway, wasn’t that you who screamed when you saw me in the corridor upstairs? I nearly peed myself I was so scared!’

Kyouko strode between Aoi and Touko’s bickering, and towards the door to the kitchen. ‘Let’s get the story straight over a hot drink – I’m freezing.’

Yasuhiro got up off the floor and offered an arm to support Makoto, who still nursed a bruised ankle.

‘Hey guys,’ Yasuhiro piped up as they all traipsed towards the kitchen. ‘I found the coolest thing in—‘

The rest of his sentence was lost in a chorus of protest.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be just one chapter but because of the direction this fic goes in, I thought it would be easier to do it in four segments.


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